Stetson's Perez and Warmoth combine to shut out Kennesaw

Stetson pitcher Austin Perez throws against Kennesaw State
on Friday at Conrad Park in DeLand.

News-Journal / Nigel Cook

Published: Friday, March 29, 2013 at 10:39 p.m.

Last Modified: Friday, March 29, 2013 at 11:56 p.m.

DELAND -- Austin Perez had a rough week. On Friday night he got a little help from his friends.

The Stetson left-hander went home to Loxahatchee early in the week after his uncle died in an accident. He didn't get back to campus until Thursday. On Friday, he delivered a solid performance on the mound to lead the Hatters to a 5-0 shutout of Kennesaw State at Melching Field.

Perez (3-1) scattered eight hits in 7 1/3 innings and benefited from two double plays with the bases loaded.

Tyler Warmoth pitched 1 2/3 innings to get the save. He came on in the eighth with the Hatters leading 2-0 after Perez had given up three straight hits with one out.

Peyton Hart hit a grounder to second baseman Kevin Fagan on Warmoth's second pitch to start a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.

“That was huge -- Warmoth coming in and doing that,'' Perez said. “Fagan made a good play. It looked like a bad hop.''

Stetson (13-14, 2-3 Atlantic Sun Conference) scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth on a hit batter, two walks, a wild pitch and Carlos Garmendia's two-run single.

The Hatters had only four hits in the game. Tyler Bocock drove in the other two runs for the Hatters on a double and a ground out.

“(Perez) gave us a great start,'' Stetson coach Pete Dunn said. “He's gone through a lot of stuff this week. But he showed up ready to pitch. We did everything we needed to do. We had good pitching, good defense and timely hitting.''

Perez said he got his throwing in this week when he was home by tossing to his three nephews, ages 5, 10 and 13. He got out of trouble several times against the Owls (16-11, 5-3), who put runners on third base in second, third, fourth and eighth innings.

Kennesaw State also loaded the bases in the third on three straight singles with one out. But the Hatters got out of the inning on a 6-4-3 double play.

“At the beginning of the game I felt like I couldn't make a pitch unless a guy was on third,'' Perez said. After I got over that phase, I was able to flip strikes and let the boys make plays behind me.''

Perez struck out three and walked two.

Stetson took a 1-0 lead in the third without getting a hit. Mike Fernland led off with a walk, went to second on Fagan's sacrifice, stole third and scored on a slow roller to short by Bocock.

Bockock laced a double to left to score Fagan from first in the fifth inning.

The two teams play the rubber game of the series at 1 p.m. Saturday.

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